Essay name: Glories of India (Culture and Civilization)
Author: Prasanna Kumar Acharya
This book, “Glories of India on Indian Culture and Civilization”, emphasizes the importance of recognizing distinct cultural traits across different societies. The historical narrative of Indian civilization highlights advancements in agriculture, medicine, science, and arts, tracing back to ancient times. The author argues for the need to understand the past to meaningfully engage with the present and future.
Page 47 of: Glories of India (Culture and Civilization)
47 (of 510)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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18
INDIAN CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION
sacrifice proper which has to be done for the benefit of
others than the self. The remaining four, riz. Devayaja
for Gods, Pitiyaj a for (deceased) parents and other
relations, Manushya yaja for the benefit of the fellow
members of the society, and the Bh_tayaja for the
benefit of the lower beings like animals, birds and
insects, are in point of fact detailed under Parvana,
Havis, Soma, and Pāka sacrifices But the Parvaṇa
is only one of the varieties of Pika yajas only
Thus there is a good deal of confusion in the
treatises themselves, for the removal of which an effort
hasbeen made in the following pages,
be
From mere enumeration of the sacraments it should
clear that they are the demonstration of the respon-
sibilities of married life. The parents who fail to
perform the sacraments concerning the child are called
by Manu and others as mere begetter (janaka) and are
likened to amimals who beget children for sexual satisfac-
tion only. Unless these responsibilities are duly carried out
the parenthood, which is to be honoured by the child as
equivalent to heaven, religion and sacred duty¹ is not
established. Apart from the economic principle of
give-and-take involved in the observance of sacraments,
Manu has referred to their hygienic and spiritual value:
'the holy rites prescribed by the Veda and the ceremony
on conception and other sacraments sanctify the body
and purify from sin in this life and after death (II 26).
'By the study of Veda, by vows, by burnt oblations, by
the recitation of the sacred texts, by the acquisition of
the threefold sacred science, by offering to the Gods,
seers and manes, by the procreation of sons2, by the
great sacrifices, and by these sacred (srauta) rites this
human body is made fit for union with God (Brahman)'
(II 28).
-
I Pit: svargah piti dharmaḥ pit, hi pramam tapalı
Pitari pritim panne priyante sarvadevati.
2 Specification of sons as implied by Punsavana scrament
does not exclude the daughters.
Minu makes the point clear:
"This whole series of ceremonies must be performed for females also
in order to sanctify the body at the proper time and in the proper
order... The nuptial ceremony is stafel to be the Vedic sa rament for
women and to be equal to the initation, serving the husband
equivalent to the residence in the house of the teacher, and the
household duties the same s the duly Worship of the sacred fire."
(Laws of Manu II, 66, 67).
